UNHAPPY HOMEOWNERS TAKE ACTION AGAINST PARKING EYESORE

BOYNTON BEACH -- A "park-like appearance" is what developers promised Henry and Millicent Nicoll when they bought their home in the Rainbow Lakes development in 1984.

But now, between bites of their morning toast, eggs and bacon, the Nicolls have to close their eyes and imagine that atmosphere, because right outside their kitchen window is a parking compound, complete with Winnebagos, boats, pickups and cars.

According to Millicent Nicoll, the parking compound was never a part of the original site plan. Levitt Homes, the Rainbow Lakes developer, used the wired- in compound to house equipment during construction of the site, Henry Nicoll said.

Millicent Nicoll said she was told by Levitt that after completion of the complex, the compound would come down and a recreational facility would replace it.

"We expected a handball court, a park pool or a tennis court for that area, but the compound remained," she said.

But Ed Benson, president of the Rainbow Lakes Homeowners Association, said Levitt told him the area was to be used for a parking compound.

Benson said people bought property in Rainbow Lakes specifically because of the availability of a parking compound.

The Nicolls, having become fed up with the view, talked with county commissioners and took the matter before the Code Enforcement Board. On March 30, the issue was reviewed by Keith Stahley, a Palm Beach County senior site planner.

And Benson said that recently the association learned the area was improperly zoned.

"We thought we had a storage area but found it was improperly zoned," he said.

Stahley, in a zoning meeting, told the homeowners association that the compound was in violation and could not be certified, "pending redesign of the area involved."

He also said the storage facility cannot remain in the present location.